From my point of view Part 61 is here to stay. We do not want to go backwards. That would now be even worse.Although CAR 5 was working, the changes have been made and we have to live and deal with them.

The issue is1. The implementation2. The gaps that we have to deal with on the coal face and the slowness of CASA in addressing these gaps and the lack of change even after industry has made and continues to make efforts in helping CASA find and fix these problems3. The cost of these changes both as an operator and as an individual pilot in both time and money. It is excessive.

If we are truly in transition then we should be able to continue business as it was under CAR 5 until Part 61 is sorted.The reality is we are expected to comply now with Part 61 which is incomplete and not yet able to be implemented and applied in its intended format all the while complying with Ops Manuals that were written under CAR 5.This means as usual we have to "wing it" and have work arounds and compromises and varying interpretations all the while trying to earn a living and stay compliant. An impossible task as evidenced by businesses and pilots leaving the industry.

More transparency, better communication, compromise and collaboration is required.Industry needs to be given the benefit of the doubt, grandfather rights applied and qualifications simply issued immediately for those that were doing it pre September 14 instead of the having to now prove and give evidence and do internal CASA courses that are themselves not complete or at times irrelevant.I think an Industry rally is good and I will support it as the elected Government needs to be continually reminded of who they are representing (especially leading up to an election) and the bureaucrats working for them who they serving and being paid by (tax payers - us)

Lets keep focusing on the big picture while continuing to beaver away at our daily jobs.

Mike, with respect, we have gone backwards with part 61. We understood CAR 5 and it's faults, but we don't understand part 61 and it's faults and there are many of them.

If we need to move forward, get part 61 fixed properly before implementing it. Until then, go back to CAR 5.Same with part 48-1, it's rubbish. Sort it out, then implement it.

61 needs to be re-written in a language those that will use it will understand. Make it clear, get rid of the unnecessary bulk of it, make it something that not just pilots understand but casa as well. Clear and unambiguous, no room for speculation. Maybe then a question will only have one answer.

Continuing business under CAR 5 until the new system is sorted out ...?? The new system with all the red tape and financial disposition will send the industry to the wall....Safe flying ? there won't be any flying. Engineering costs have soared because paper work now equates to Aprox 1/3 of the bill. Completely unsustainable.

Team, disappointingly, I haven't been able to arrange to get there as other commitments have gotten in the way. If anyone is going to get there and there's an opportunity and not the usual glad-handing and photo opportunity crap from the Deputy PM and CASA mob, get stuck in!

Well attended and at times heated discussion, SIDS and ADSB dominated discussion. Chairman of CASA board acknowledged Part 61 is a cluster f#%k and they are unpicking it to make it more workable. Barnaby and Chester have invited industry reps to Canberra both before and after election to work through our problems. Nick Zenephon is going to get involved as well.

I have to laugh, or I would cry, just found ANOTHER instrument/exemption (and I thought 61 was supposed to get rid of all the exemptions and dispensations, more fool me), this one on aircraft flight reviews (CASA EX97/16), it's 4 pages, and then there is the "explanatory statement, 14 pages long. Something else to put me to sleep. Doesn't anybody at caa speak English.

And I see things have gone quiet on the 61 and 48 fronts. Have we rolled over and taken one for the PC team. I'm thinking so.

The AHIA wishes to advise that Rob Rich, Convenor of the AHIA, has resigned from the AHIA and his Executive position on the Board for a well-earned retirement. Effective 30 June 2016.

Rob’s passion and enthusiasm for the helicopter industry has not wavered in the almost 50 years I have known him. It was his foresight that saw the need for a helicopter industry representative body and in November 2012 the AHIA was incorporated. Without this representation the industry would not be as well off as it is today.

Few realize the wealth of experience and knowledge Rob bought to the industry. He commenced flying as an Army pilot in 1964 and a brief summary of his experience is,

I see there is another exemption out from the part 61 task force. This one for gap training of instructors to teach basic IFR. Gee, we didn't think about this did we!!!

My question is this.

Wouldn't the task force be better fixing the whole of this bunfight rather than just farting around patching things over with exemptions. I heard the new rules were to do away with exemptions, not bring on more.

I spoke to a caa representative the other day and was told it would be too hard to bring back CAR 5. Hard to believe, it was working okay before they decided to force part 61 on us even though it hasn't worked, even though it hasn't come close to working. Surely it would be no harder to re-introduce CAR 5 completely, surely someone out there has a copy. They had no trouble shoving part 61 through, do it again and put CAR 5 back in place, then, spend 5 years or so sorting out the issues with part 61 and when they think it's good to go, test it with a few operators to make sure the dumb arses who wrote it have got it right. Then put it in place and not before.

Hi HIP and others.The issue with rolling back from Part 61 to Car 5 is the legal frame work to do that. Government can make any rule they wish, but they don't have the motivation to carry this out. Car5 has been repealed and it doesn't matter who has a copy, it as valuable as toilet paper.The task force, with an AHIA rep, is working through issues trying to create patches.Eventually most of the exemptions will be incorporated into actual legislation and the exemptions will fall by the way side.

It's all been a really sad time for GA, no argument there.

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.

CYHeli, I understand that the task force is doing things to try to fix the pile of crap that is part 61, but in the mean time everybody has to operate blind, never knowing exactly what the rules are and how they will change. Every time you turn around its different, sometimes a subtle change and sometimes a massive change. Just how does this moron government department expect us to react to constantly shifting goal posts. Have you tried to get an answer to a question from caa, "I'll get back to you",' then the silence is deafening or you get three different answers.

Any wonder that a lot of people are just throwing their hands in the air and walking away.

We can either keep complaining about the changes or get with the program, whilst i don't agree with all the new changes, Its been implemented by CASA so companies just have to deal with it or as HIP has said some will just throw the towel in.

We just had our ops manual approved to CASR 119 standards,its taken 8 months to re write it and have it approved by CASA. The FOI that handled our new manual approval was a delight to deal with which was encouraging.

"You can watch things happen, you can make things happen or you can wonder what happened!!"